Game Blog: Pirates blow out Brewers, 15-5

Pittsburgh – The Milwaukee Brewers and the Pittsburgh Pirates renew what has been a pretty entertaining rivalry thus far this season as they square off tonight once again at PNC Park.

The last time these two teams met, they were first brawling and then going to 14 innings before Khris Davis' home run won it, 3-2, on a memorable Easter Sunday.

Milwaukee comes in having beaten the Pirates in eight of the teams' 10 meetings so far this season, and on the heels of a 2-2 split of its interleague series with the Minnesota Twins.

The Brewers are at full strength tonight, complete with Aramis Ramirez at third base and hitting fifth, and Kyle Lohse takes the mound on the heels of his three-hit shutout of the Chicago Cubs last time out.

Brewers – Jean Segura walks, but after Ryan Braun flies out to right he is thrown out trying to steal second by Russell Martin. Jonathan Lucroy strikes out swinging.

Pirates – Josh Harrison leads off with an infield single. Neil Walker lines out. With Andrew McCutchen up, Harrison goes to second on a wild pitch. That proves big as McCutchen smokes a double to center that hits off the wall, allowing him to come around to score. After Ike Davis flies out to right, Martin bloops a two-out single to left to drive in McCutchen and makes it 2-0. Pedro Alvarez grounds out to second on the shift.

SECOND INNING

Brewers – Aramis Ramirez singles to left with one out, but one pitch later Khris Davis grounds into an inning-ending 4-3 double play.

Pirates – Lohse retires the side in order.

THIRD INNING

Brewers – Scooter Gennett leads off with a single and moves up to second on a one-out bunt by Lohse, but Segura grounds out to end the frame.

Pirates – With two outs, Lohse makes a first-pitch mistake to McCutchen, who deposits it into the left-field seats to extend Pittsburgh's lead to 3-0.

FOURTH INNING

Brewers – Milwaukee finally digs into Pittsburgh's lead. After Braun strikes out, Lucroy singles and Gomez doubles to put runners in scoring position. Ramirez bloops a single into center off Walker's glove, scoring Lucroy and moving Gomez to third. Davis then lofts a sacrifice fly to right to score Gomez. Gennett follows with a single and then Cumpton pitches around Reynolds to load the bases for Lohse. He hits the ball hard, but right at shortstop Jordy Mercer, who tosses to second for the putout. Brewers cut the deficit to 3-2.

Pirates – Lohse hits Martin with a pitch, but Alvarez grounds into a 4-6 fielder's choice and then Tabata grounds into a 1-6-3 double play.

Pirates – Bad start to the inning for Lohse, who gives up a homer to the No. 8 hitter Mercer and then walks the .000-hitting Cumpton. That's Lohse's first free pass in 34 2/3 innings. Harrison grounds out 1-3, moving Cumpton to second. Walker follows with a single to center, scoring Cumpton to make it 5-2, and Walker moves up to second when Gomez airmails the throw home. A couple mistakes there. McCutchen grounds out to shortstop. Davis flies out to center.

SIXTH INNING

Brewers – Gomez leads off with a single, moves up to second on a groundout and scores on a Davis single that makes it 5-3. Cumpton is pulled for Justin Wilson, who gets Gennett to pop out and strikes out Reynolds.

Pirates – Lohse is greeted by three straight singles, the third of which is a broken-bat flare into right that scores Martin. Lohse is replaced by Tyler Thornburg, who gives up a run-scoring single to Mercer and then walks pinch-hitter Travis Snider on four pitches to load the bases. He follows up by walking Harrison to force in a run. That's eight straight balls. He recovers by striking out Walker and McCutchen, only to walk in another run with Davis at the plate. The game gets completely out of hand when Martin hits a bases-clearing double off the wall in left-center. I'll spare you the rest of the details, but the Pirates send 13 batters to the plate in all and stretch their lead to 13-3.

SEVENTH INNING

Brewers – Braun singles with two outs, but that's it.

Pirates – Wei-Chung Wang in, and he surrenders a pair of singles but neither comes in to score as he hangs a zero on the Pirates.

Pirates – Pittsburgh scores twice off Wang, who also takes a hard shot off his right calf on a comebacker by Snider. He stays in the game, though, to get the final out.

NINTH INNING

Brewers – Reynolds singles, Weeks doubles and Segura drives in Reynolds with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 15-4. Braun drives in another run with a groundout, and that does it. Ugly loss for Milwaukee.